Booking and Performance Promotion

Monthly Archives: May 2014

Loretta Sawyer was pleased to present a workshop at the Southeast Regional Folk Alliance (SERFA) Conference titled Making a Career for Yourself via Alternative Venues & Thoughtlast week in Montreat, North Carolina, along with Christine Stay and Jan Krist.

EUREKA SPRINGS,AR- Last fall The Aud in Eureka Springs was filled to capacity for a special event double broadcast taping of Michael Johnathon‘s WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour. This May fans will get both a chance to see the PBS broadcast shown on a big screen but also see Johnathon in concert along with the legendary Michael Martin Murphey during the May Festival of the Arts on Saturday, May 24.

Murphey is best known for his hits ‘Wildfire’ and ‘Carolina in the Pines’. Murphey has six gold albums, including Cowboy Songs, the first album of cowboy music to achieve gold status since Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs by Marty Robbins in 1959. Murphey is also the author of New Mexico’s State Ballad, “The Land of Enchantment”.

Opening for Murphey will be Michael Johnathon, the award winning host of WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour. Johnathon is a folksinger, songwriter, concert performer, and author who created and hosts the worldwide broadcast of the WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour. WoodSongs has a radio audience of over a million listeners each week on 500 public radio stations, plus is carried on PBS-TV coast-to-coast as well as the American Forces Radio Network in 173 nations.

On Friday, May 23 Johnathon will also host a premiere of the two episodes of WoodSongs Old Time Radio Hour that were taped in Eureka Springs last year during the 66th Annual Original Ozark Folk Festival. The shows spotlighted wonderful artists from across Arkansas and The Ozarks including Mountain Sprout, The Clark Family Trio, Clancey Ferguson, Allison Williams, The Ozark Alliance, David Kimbrough III, and Fiddlin’ Banjo Billy Mathews, as well international stars Leroy Troy and the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band and the legendary Michael Martin Murphey. Both shows will air on public television stations across America.

If you go:

Both shows will be held in the historic City Auditorium. Doors open at 6 PM, and the shows start at 7PM both nights. Admission for the WoodSongs premiere Friday evening is free, with a suggested donation of either $5 to The Auditorium maintenance and operation fund, or two cans of non-perishable food to the Flint Street Food Pantry and their ‘Back Our Kids’ program. Tickets for the Michael Martin Murphey/Michael Johnathon concert Saturday are only $15 for general admission seating (or preferred seating through the MMM Fan Club), or $100 for a VIP package that includes premium seating, a poster and a meet and greet with Murphey and Johnathon the night of the show.

For tickets and more information, please visit TheAud.org or call 479-253-7333.

DOWNERS GROVE,IL – Two Way Street Coffee House welcomes award winning singer songwriter Chris Vallillo for a special concert event on Friday May 23, 2014 at 8:15pm. $7. Two Way Street Coffee House is located at Curtiss St., Downers Grove, IL. 630-969-9720.

Vallillo has long been known as a musician who makes the people and places of “unmetropolitan” America come to life in song. A singer-songwriter and multi instrumentalist with an affinity for American roots music, Vallillo is a skilled six-string and bottleneck slide guitarist who incorporates original and traditional material to form a musical portrait of the Midwestern way of life. Perhaps the archaeology degree Vallillo earned at Beloit College helped him see the important little details of life which imbue his songs with a sense of history.

The Last Day of Winter is the 7th CD release by Chris Vallillo following his successful release of Abraham Lincoln In Song.

While some might disagree, Vallillo clearly believes “There is no such thing as too many guitars!” And with this new recording, he takes that claim seriously. For years he collected and restored old stringed instruments, some high quality, most quite inexpensive, but each with its own unique voice. With The Last Day of Winter, Vallillo uses this unique collection of voices to create a distinctive recording of original and American roots music heavily featuring his unique bottleneck slide playing. “Of all styles of playing, for me, slide guitar is the most intimate.” said Vallillo. “It’s an emotive style of playing that can make a slow song simmer and a fast piece burn and I wanted to focus on that style of playing for this project.”

While seventeen different vintage instruments are featured on the CD, Vallillo expects to have some of those instruments with him performing music that ranges from classic Americana melodies such as T”he Water Is Wide” and “Old Joe Clark,” to original songs like the poignant “Lettie’s Song” or the beautiful song of harvest time, “Silhouette Against the Stars.”

Beginning his career in 1980, Dean Osborne has had a hand in just about every area of the bluegrass music business. As an artist and bandleader, he and the Eastbound Band were nominated in 2001 for IBMA emerging artist of the year and featured as a showcase act. He has been featured with Richard Bennett on releases for Rebel Records including their first “Live” video release. Dean recorded as a solo artist for Pinecastle Records. As an event producer, his credits include the Red Mule Festival, the J.D. Crowe Bluegrass Festival, and the Osborne Brothers hometown Festival, the latter being nominated for IMBA Event of the Year in 2001.As an instructor, Dean expanded a 20 year teaching career by accepting the position of director of HCTC’s Kentucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music in March of 2006, located in Hyden, Kentucky. The Dean Osborne Band consists of Dean Osborne (Vocals/Banjo), Rob Morgan (Vocals/Mandolin), Ronnie Merrill (Guitar), Dedria Morgan (Vocals/Bass). They have traveled and performed together in various configurations for the past 20 years throughout the United States including Alaska and Canada.

Lardo & Burley of the Moron Brothers have been entertaining folks for years with their hilarious stories and original songs. They are a favorite at Bluegrass Festivals across the nation and have shared the stage with greats like JD Crowe, Eddie Adcock, Bobby Osborne and Rhonda Vincent just to name a few.